Our Turn: Sharing Community, Rutland Herald. May 4, 2023

Newspaper with News headline

Is Vermont being lobbied for Nuremberg Laws?

Race-based attacks and harmful stereotypes are putting Vermont’s Abenaki communities in jeopardy, and it needs to stop. This week is Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week, yet international special-interest groups are threatening state-recognized Abenaki tribes with cultural erasure in an effort to position themselves for recognition and rights within the United States.

Click here to read the full article in the Rutland Herald.

Abenaki Alliance: Is Vermont being Lobbied for Nuremberg Law? Brattleboro Reformer. May 2, 2023

This is an article.

Race-based attacks and harmful stereotypes are putting Vermont’s Abenaki communities in jeopardy and it needs to stop. This week is Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week, yet international special-interest groups are threatening state-recognized Abenaki tribes with cultural erasure in an effort to position themselves for recognition and rights within the United States.

Using their Canadian status as recognized First Nations, Odanak and Wôlinak in Quebec are using state and federally-funded universities and media organizations to promote their propaganda — threatening to rewrite 12,000 years of Native heritage in the Abenaki homelands now known as the State of Vermont.

Click here to read the full article in the Brattleboro Reformer

Don Stevens

Enrolled Citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation

Juried Artist since 2013
Image of Chief Don Stevens in regalia.

Chief Don Stevens is an award-winning leader, businessman, writer, and lecturer. He has been featured in magazines, books, TV shows, and documentaries. He was appointed to the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs by Governor Douglas in 2006 for two terms, where he served as Chair and led the fight to obtain legal recognition for the Abenaki People in Vermont. Chief Stevens was able to acquire tribal land for the Nulhegan Tribe which had been absent for over 200 years. A gifted storyteller, he speaks about issues of Native American Sovereignty, Racial Disparity, and Abenaki Identity.

He was appointed by the Attorney General to the “Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems Advisory Panel” and serves on the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Advisory Panel and Vermont State Police Fairness and Diversity Advisory Panel.

Contact

Address: 156 Bacon Drive

Shelburne VT  04582

Email: [email protected]

Image of breast plate made by Chief Don Stevens.
Breast Plate
Image of Raccoon Bag made by Chief Don Stevens.
Raccoon Bag

Exhibits

2017 – 2018

Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage. Traveling Exhibit. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.

2014     

Traditional Sources, Contemporary Visions – Invitational Group Art Exhibit. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, VT

Events and Performances

2013 – 2018    

Native American Heritage Weekend, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, VT

Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT

Nulheganaki, Island Pond, VT

2012     

Native American Heritage Weekend, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, VT

Nulheganaki, Island Pond, VT

2011    

Native American Heritage Weekend, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, VT

Speaking To The Ancestors Abenaki Gathering.  ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center/Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, VT

2010     

Native American Heritage Weekend, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, VT

Winter Celebration. ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center/Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, VT

2009    

Vermont Indigenous Celebration.  ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center/Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, VT

Affiliations

Vermont Abenaki Artists Association

Blog

Nebizun: Water is Life

Nebizun: Water is Life

Written by Kelly Holt. First published in Art New England Magazine. June 1, 2023. Nebizun: Water is Life, is a ...

Interviews with Artists (2021)

In 2020 and 2021, we were unable to host our annual Abenaki Heritage Weekend in person so we began organizing ...
Two-eyed Seeing Speaker Series poster with information about the presentations.

Two-Eyed Seeing Speaker Series (2023)

The term “Two-Eyed seeing,” coined by Mi’kmaw Nation Elder Albert Marshall, describes the experience of seeing the strength of Indigenous ...
2024 Abenaki Heritage Weekend

Abenaki Heritage Weekend June 29-30 at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Connects Heritage, Health, and Wellness

On June 29-30 citizens of the American Abenaki community will gather at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes, Vermont to ...
Vermont Folklife logo.

Traditional Arts Spotlight by Vermont Folklife – Abenaki Basket Making and Fiber Art

Sherry Gould (Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation) and Vera Sheehan (Elnu Abenaki Tribe), are both lifelong artists and ...
Abenaki Heritage Weekend poster

Abenaki Heritage Weekend 2023

June 17-18 at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum On June 17-18, 2023, citizens of the New England Abenaki community will gather ...
Newspaper with News headline

Our Turn: Sharing Community, Rutland Herald. May 4, 2023

Is Vermont being lobbied for Nuremberg Laws? Race-based attacks and harmful stereotypes are putting Vermont’s Abenaki communities in jeopardy, and ...
This is an article.

Abenaki Alliance: Is Vermont being Lobbied for Nuremberg Law? Brattleboro Reformer. May 2, 2023

Race-based attacks and harmful stereotypes are putting Vermont’s Abenaki communities in jeopardy and it needs to stop. This week is ...
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